Ein-O-Science Models

I wanted to mention the Ein-O-Science models. While learning about cell models last week, we used the plant cell model and the animal cell model. The boys loved them!!

Interactive plant cell model

http://www.amazon.com/Ein-O-Science-BioSigns-Plant-Cell/dp/B00196W1S8/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1244656108&sr=8-5

Interactive animal cell model

http://www.amazon.com/Ein-O-Science-BioSigns-Animal-Cell/dp/B0019737R6/ref=pd_bxgy_t_text_b

They are roughly the size of a small donut. It has removable cell parts - endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi complex, nucleus and mitochondria. While this may be a bit beyond what we "need" to know right now, it is a great visual aid! Right now, it's a unique "toy", but will also come in handy when the boys will need to know those terms.

We also have the human body model by the same company. It is a favorite toy around here. Be warned -there are some small parts that could be easily lost. We've had the human body model for a couple of years and still have all the parts. The cell models do have smaller pieces though. We've only had them for a week but no losses so far and the boys have free access to them.

Introduction

We're a family that currently homeschools in California. Thomas (the principal :) ) is a native Californian. I'm Tonya and I'm from NC. Brandon (7) and Gavin (5) are our sons. When we first had children, the thought of homeschooling never crossed our minds. It came on in a roundabout way thanks to the military. The boys have never gone to conventional school. Although, Brandon did attend a Christian preschool for awhile. We have run the gamut on homeschooling philosophies. We started out with just workbooks. Then I found Five in a Row (which is amazing!). We even unschooled a bit before I discovered The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise. I love the classical approach and it seems to work well for us. I admit that it was daunting at first but not so scary once you get over the nerves of "am I doing this right?". There are varied approaches to homeschooling. We tried several before we found what works best for us. I hope to chronicle our home education through this blog. I love reading other blogs! After a couple of years of learning so much from others, I decided to record our journey.

Our First Week Back!

This has been our first week back. We resumed school after only a two week break. The summers are incredibly hot here! The boys never wanted to go outside until late afternoon/evening. We were all getting a bit stir-crazy. I have been so excited about starting the new year - especially science and history.

It seems that fall has been our "summer" since moving to the desert. The weather is always nicer and there are smaller crowds at all the fun places we like to visit!

This is what we accomplished this week.

Brandon:
Horizons 3 - Lessons 1-5
Growing with Grammar (GWG) - Lessons 1.1 - 1.4
Explode the Code 6 (ETC)- pages 81-96
Singapore Challenging Word Problems (CWP) - pages 63-64
Spectrum Reading 3 - pages 8-19

Gavin:
Horizons 1 - Lessons 1-5
Singapore CWP - pages 1-5
Explode the Code 2 1/2 - pages 17-32

Both:
Story of the World 2 (SOTW2) - Chapter 1
- map work
- Brandon did copywork
- read Who Were the Romans?
- barbarian coloring page
- narration exercise about the Roman Empire
- read chapters 1-5 of The Sword in the Tree by Clyde Robert Bulla
- made our own Roman ruins that the boys ate afterwards!

REAL Science Life - Unit 1 (What is Life?) and Unit 2 (The Cell)
- read The Magic School Bus Inside Ralphie by Joanna Cole
- read Germs Make Me Sick! by Melvin Berger
- read Your Skin and Mine by Paul Showers
- read Magic School Bus: The Search for the Missing Bones by Eva Moore,
chapters 1-5
- germs coloring page
- animal cell coloring page
- plant cell coloring page
- human cell coloring page

For science, we completed two labs the boys really enjoyed. The first was "An Egg is a Cell" lab where they had to identify parts of a cell as found in an egg. The second involved making edible models of plant and animal cells!

We've also been reading Henry Huggins by Beverly Cleary. A child-friendly version of Gulliver's Travels is our family read-aloud now. The boys cannot get enough of Lilliput!

2009-2010 Curriculum

Brandon - 3rd
Math - Horizons 3 supplemented with Singapore Challenging Word Problems
Grammar - Growing with Grammar 3
Writing - Writing with Ease
Phonics - finishing Explode the Code 7 and 8
Spelling - nothing until after ETC is done and then Sequential Spelling?


Gavin - 1st
Math - Horizons 1 supplement with Singapore Challenging Word Problems
Grammar - First Language Lessons 1/2
Writing - Writing with Ease
Phonics - Explode the Code

Both
History - Story of the World 2
Science - R.E.A.L. Science Chemistry
Art - Artist/Picture Study of twelve artists I've chosen
Music - Composer study of twelve composers I've chosen